Heavily Shorted GameStop Soars Most Ever as Day Traders Circle

(Bloomberg) -- A rush of day trading and short covering fueled a record stock surge for GameStop Corp. just days after the addition of activist investor and Chewy Inc. co-founder Ryan Cohen to the video-game retailer’s board.

The Grapevine, Texas-based company spiked a record 62% Wednesday as retail investors flocked to the struggling company. Traders betting on Cohen’s plans to transform the chain in the image of his highly successful Chewy helped fuel the now three-day rally with the stock shaking off years of underperformance.

GameStop shares have climbed as much as 83% in the three days since news of Cohen’s addition to the board and are trading at the highest since August 2016. Short interest in GameStop remains near recent highs, with 138% of shares available for trading currently sold short, data compiled by S3 Partners shows.

Cohen’s spot on the board, along with two other former Chewy colleagues, was well-received by Wall Street analysts, with Telsey’s Joseph Feldman in a Tuesday note saying the trio will “make GameStop a more digitally focused retailer.”